V i r t u a l Reality
by newtdean135
Summary: Our story follows Kathrall, a solo player who begins to find himself in the company of other players. Watch these relationships grow or fall, and watch Kathrall's journey through the world of Aincrad.
1. Chapter 1 - Discovery

_Link Start!_

A rainbow of colours filled my vision and my long awaited dream became a reality. Age of Aincrad, the virtual reality MMORPG was finally in my possession and I could finally indulge myself in a world of fantasy. The feeling was surreal. I was brought to a customization menu, but rather than customizing my appearance I decided to go with the flow and keep my real world look. It was really weird to see yourself just standing there in the character screen waiting to be used. I finished creating my character and connected to the world of Aincrad: _my_ new world.

After being blinded by light my vision was restored to me and there I was, standing in the starting town, Primum. The pictures I'd seen on the internet and in gaming magazines could not compare to the beauty of how it looked in game. Stone buildings and castles, a fountain in the middle of the town square, and beautiful fields and meadows all around the outskirts of the cities. I couldn't wait to explore the villages around, meet tons of new and interesting people, and go out to slay monsters. I thought that this was everything I wanted, but it came with a price. The price being that this alternate reality was now the only reality. A reality where if you died in this game, your body in the real world died with it.

It's been two months now and we're still stuck here on the first floor, but progress is being made. I decided early on that I was going to have an impact on this world. I decided I was going to help liberate everyone who was trapped here. It didn't take me long to find what I needed: a strong mace, a sturdy shield, and a heavy set of protective armour. Out in the fields fighting monsters I could take a big hit, but I couldn't dish out as much as I could take. That's where I met the closest thing to a true friend you could find in this chaotic world: Zak.

We met in a small village when we were both stumped on a quest. We were both trying to see if the other could help and when we found out we were encountering the same problem it seemed like a good idea to party up.

"Hey there, do you got a second?" said a voice from behind me. I turned around to see a guy around my height with spiky brown hair and a boyish face. "I'm really stumped on this quest called _The Forsaken Village._ I have no idea where this flippin' village is! Is there any chance you know the location?"

"Hate to break it to ya, but I haven't a clue where that place is. Actually, I've been trying to find that village myself for a little bit now. it's been a real pain in the ass if you ask me."

"Tell me about it, I've already paid three different information brokers for helpless lore about the city!"

"Oh really? I hadn't even thought about going to an info broker about it. What did they tell you?"

"Give me a sec; I'll pull it up from my info log." The stranger waved his hand and his menu popped up. After clicking through several buttons a screen appeared in front of me with the story of the Forsaken Village.

 _The Forsaken Village  
There used to be a mining village not too long ago. The villagers there lived happy and peaceful lives. They had vast hunting grounds, a fresh river and spring, and a very close community. It seemed like the perfect place to spend your days. One day all of that changed… the day when the evil depths of the mines came to the surface. No one knows where the evil came from or why it came, all they knew was that it brought death. These monsters slaughtered the villagers and took the village as their new home. Now only the bravest souls dare even to come close to this village, for anyone who enters will face the wrath of evil._

"Wow" I said as I closed the window. "Pretty bad way to go."

"Well it wasn't much help because I still can't find the damn place."

"Well the text says that it was a mining village right? Did you try searching through some of the foothills?"

The man's expression dropped. Suddenly he raised his eyebrows and widely opened his eyes. "MAN! I can't believe I didn't think of that! So many hours I could have spent levelling!" The look of frustration and sudden realization for some reason made me break out in laughter. "Oh, ha ha, it's so funny that I overlooked the obvious!" mocked Zak.

"Don't take any offense about me laughing. I was the one who didn't even think to consult an information broker; that's way worse."

"I guess that is pretty bad, but I couldn't have found this place without you. Hey, that gives me an idea," said the man in excitement. "Why don't we party up and do the quest together? It'd be way easier and this "great evil" thing sounds like it might be tough for either of us to handle alone."

"That's not a bad idea; plus it'd be a lot more efficient. Oh, what the hell, I'm-"

"Awesome!" the man interrupted. Before I could even say anything he raised a hand and opened up his menu again. This time a different window opened up on my screen.

 **Party Invitation**  
 **Username: Zak**  
 **Accept | Decline**

 _Zak, eh? I guess him and I will be partying for a bit._ Without hesitation I lifted my hand and clicked the accept button.

"Kathrall? Cool name, glad you could join me!"

Zak stuck out his right hand and looked at me with a grin. I rose my hand, gave him a firm shake, and our adventure together would begin there.


	2. Chapter 2 - Friendship

It had already been an hour of Zak and I scouting through the foothills of the first floor when we finally decided to take a break. The huge sun in the sky was beating down on us without a single cloud to give us cover. We finally found a tree where we could rest under and take a break to cool down.

"Damn, it sure is hot out today," said Zak, exhausted. "I really wish this randomly generated weather could at least give us a breeze. Carrying around this huge axe doesn't make it any easier." Zak threw down his weapon and exhaled deeply.

"You think that's bad? Try luggin' around this mace and shield! I'm sure your axe can't be as heavy as these two combined."

"Keep dreamin', Kath! There's a reason this thing does so much damage!"

Zak and I both laughed. Our sense of humour worked really well together and we were having a pretty good time considering we just met barely an hour ago. We sat down under the tree and I pulled out some bread from my inventory that I had bought earlier that day.

"Here, have some." I said to Zak as I handed him a bun.

"Gee, thanks! I haven't eaten since I left my inn this morning, I'm starving!" Zak quickly began to fill his face with the bun; it looked more like inhaling than eating.

"So what compelled you to buy AoA?" I asked.

"Well, the real question is what wouldn't compel me? Every kid dreams of being a knight, a hero, and a warrior, so of course when he sees the chance he's gonna seize it! How about you, Kath? Same thing?"

"I completely agree with you, the idea of being a knight fighting monsters was just completely overwhelming. Once I heard about the game's initial announcement 4 years ago I had been dreaming of the day I'd get to enter this world."

"I bet that dream turned into a nightmare real quick, just like for the rest of us," Zak said gloomily. I'd only known the man for an hour, but I found it odd to see him without a smile on his face.

"Not necessarily."

"What do you mean 'not necessarily'?"

"Well, it's only a nightmare if we let it be one. Even though we're trapped here, _we're_ the ones still in control. We still decide our fate and our future. Sure we could die here, but we could just as easily get hit by a car any day in the real world. All I know is I intend to do my best to beat this game and this world."

Zak's grim face slowly began to fade away and sure enough his usual cheerful self came back around. "You know what Kath, I have a feeling we're going to be really great friends." He looked at me with a smile and sure enough it made me grin. That's when I heard a faint noise in the background.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Zak as I tried to focus in on the noise.

"Hear what?" After a brief pause Zak jumped up from his spot in the shade. "I do hear that, that's running water! You know what that means, right!?"

"That's probably the stream from the story. We should go and check it out."

Zak and I quickly picked up our weapons and followed the sound of running water. After running down the trail we'd been following for the past hour we stumbled across a small stream.

"Hey Kath, this means that the village is nearby right?" Zak asked me with excitement.

"There's a good chance of it. The only problem is figuring out which direction we should go in."

"We could split up if you think it's a good idea? I could go downstream and you could go up."

"How will we know if the other finds the village?"

"Because we'll message the other! Here, let me send you a friend request."

 _A friend request?_ I thought to myself. The idea of friends in this world was a whole new concept to me. Sure I've gotten along with a few other players and even partied with some, but never to the point where I could call them my friends. Before I could say anything Zak pulled his hand up and in an instant a screen appeared in front of me.

 _Friend Request  
Username: Zak  
Accept | Decline_

I began to raise my hand, but upon bringing my hand closer to the screen I froze.

 _What if he's not the person I think he is? What if he's plotting against me? Can I really trust this man?_

This series of negative thoughts continued to poor into my head, but then I remembered how close we've gotten in the short amount of time I've known him.

 _What if he's exactly what I think he is? What if he's the nicest person in this death game? He could become the best friend I've ever had._

I raised my head and looked at Zak. He was smiling at me as usual. Looking at his innocent, boyish face made me realize what I wanted to do. I snapped out of my state of hesitation and clicked on the _Accept_ button.

"Awesome, glad to be friends with you Kath!" Zak said enthusiastically.

"Right back at ya, Zak." I said with a smile on my face. "Let's go with your plan. I'll follow the river upstream and you follow it downstream. Whoever finds the village will message the other."

"Sounds good! I'll see ya in a bit, buddy!" Before I could even respond he was already running off in search of this village.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to start looking," I said out loud. I turned around and began walking up the stream. It was really quite a beautiful area. The life riddled hills the crystal clear stream make quite the scenery. It was nice summer days like this that make me realize Aincrad is also a world of its own, whether or not it's virtual. One thing stayed on my mind though. That thing was Zak.

No matter how many times I tried thinking about something else Zak kept popping into my head. _Is this what it's like to have a friend?_ I never really had any real friends back in the real world. Sure, I got along with people and played with people on my sports teams, but I never really considered any of them to be my _friends_. No matter how close anyone got to me they never passed the border that separated acquaintance and friend, but for some reason things felt different with Zak. He was always cheerful, insanely optimistic, and he actually encourages me. Things like that aren't easy to come by.

 _BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP._

A screen popped up in front of me. It was a message from Zak!

 _Hey Kath, it's Zak! I found the village, but there are guards everywhere. You won't believe what these things look like when you see them. Oh shit, one spotted me! Hurry up and get over here as fast as you can!_

My eyes shot open and my heart started racing. I tried to move, but I couldn't will my body enough to do so. _Is this fear?_ My body began to tremble; the thought of losing the only friend I've made in this game was overwhelming. I tried and tried to push myself to go, but I just couldn't move. Everything began going dark and I almost felt lost, but then I thought about what I told Zak earlier. I told him that this place is only a nightmare if you let it be one. I couldn't let this dream of me finally connecting with someone turn into a nightmare. Somehow I snapped out of my state of paralysis and I immediately started running down the stream.

 _Hold on Zak, I'm coming to save you. I'm coming to save my friend._


	3. Chapter 3 - Escape

_Run run, faster faster! I gotta go faster!_ I was pushing myself to the limit trying to get to Zak. My breath was about to give out and my body could barely keep up with my mind, but that didn't stop me. All I knew was that I had to get to the village as soon as possible.

Terrible thoughts were beginning to creep into my mind. Thoughts of Zak dying, thoughts of losing my only friend. Soon a flood of emotion began to come over me. Anger, fear, sadness.

 _I don't want to be alone... Not anymore. Not ever again._ I had been so lonely ever since I got trapped in this game. No friends, no family, no one who even wanted to keep me around. Countless days spent in darkness with nothing except for myself and my thoughts. How could I hope to help Zak when I can hardly do anything for myself.

I shut my eyes and tried wiping away the falling tears from my face. That's when I began to hear noise off in the distance.

 _Huah! Take that!_

Immediately I snapped out of my state of turmoil and began following the noise. I tried to run faster as I approached a hill seeming to shield the noise.

 _Hah-hah-hah!_ My breathing continued to intensify, but I was more determined than ever. Upon reaching the top of the hill I was blinded by the sunlight that shone on me. Lifting a hand to block the sun out of my vision I could see Zak and what appeared to be a zombie-like creature battling towards the bottom of the hill. About a kilometer away I could see the village we were looking for.

"ZAK!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. A smile of relief managed to take over my emotional facial expression.

Zak shot his head towards me. "It's about time you showed up!" he yelled, smiling back at me. He swung his heavy axe downwards on the monster but it jumped backwards in response. Once he created enough distance between himself and the monster he began running towards me. Nearly tripping, I started running towards him as well.

"Boy am I glad to see you." Zak said. "It's been one hell of a rough one, this guy just won't quit."

"Is it a strong monster?" I asked, trying to get updated on the situation.

"Not really, but it's pretty damn quick. I'm not able to swing my axe fast enough to get off more than a scratch."

The monster roared and finally started running towards us.

"Okay Zak, I have a plan. Wait for my signal."

"Alright Kath, you better not let me down!"

We took off towards the monster. Once we got close enough I could finally read it's name. _Forsaken Villager_. Definitely an undead type monster, but I've never seen one so fast. It had rotting skin with a blue hue, a dislocated jaw, and some chunks of meat missing out of it. It looked like something straight out of a horror film.

"Stay a bit back and wait!" I commanded Zak as I engaged combat with the monster.

As soon as I was in range of it, the monster threw down a heavy punch at me. I lifted my shield to block it and swept my mace at its legs to test it's speed. It barely managed to jump over my attack. _Hmm, this should work_. The monster came at me again, this time instead of absorbing the blow with my shield I brushed it off and the monster lost its balance. I had the perfect opening to attack.

"Concussion!" I shouted to activate my Mace Skill. In a lightning fast motion I swung my mace from my side to above my head and crashed it down on the monster's skull. "Now, Zak!"

The monster stood there motionless as Zak came flying in to flank it.

"Huah!" he yelled as he sliced his axe horizontally through the monster. The two pieces split apart and burst into millions of pixels. "We did it, Kath!" Zak looked over at me with a smile, but it quickly faded away. "You okay man? You don't look so hot?"

Suddenly I became weak. First my legs gave out, then my vision began to darken. My eyes slowly closed as I saw Zak running towards me...

Blackness was all I saw. Nothing but empty darkness.

 _I guess I'll never get out of here, will I?_ I thought. It seemed like ever since I entered Aincrad that it was me versus the world and maybe that's the way it was supposed to be, but in the darkness I could always see a light. I really wanted to reach that light, but it was always so small and so distant that I never thought I had a chance to reach it. This time it was different. The light was coming to me. This little white light continued to get closer and closer to me. I didn't know whether I should be happy or afraid. As the light got closer I could hear a voice, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. The light began taking over my vision and before I knew it all I could see was light. The voice was clear to me now.

"Hey Kath, wake up!" Zak said, worried.

I shot straight upwards unaware of what was happening. "The monsters-"

"Don't worry about it," Zak interrupted, "I dragged you away from that hellhole." I finally took a look at my surroundings and sure enough Zak and I were back at our original resting spot.

"What happened to me?"

"Not quite sure... One second you were kicking that zombie's ass and the next you blacked out."

"I probably just over-exerted myself. I pretty much sprinted for 15 minutes just to catch up to you. I was scared you were in danger."

"Pfft, me in danger? Not even in your dreams!" laughed Zak. He must have seen the worried expression on my face because in an instant he changed his tone of voice. "Thanks for having my back there man." he said while placing a hand on my back. "What was that skill you used there anyway? That undead piece of crap couldn't even move after you hit him."

"It's a mace-skill I learned not too long ago called Concussion. It stuns whoever I hit with it for 3 seconds."

"Wow! That's awesome! I can already tell we're going to kick that boss' ass ne-"

"Boss?!" I interrupted. "What boss?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. After killing that monster our quest log got updated, take a look."

I raised my hand and opened up my menu and cycled through to my quest log. Zak was right, there was a notification beside _The Forsaken Village_. I opened the quest and the new information was brought up on a screen in front of me.

 _Upon finding the village you discover that it is completely taken over by the horrific plague that consumed the villagers. Thankfully, there is a way to lift this plague. The heart of the plague comes from the leader of the Forsaken: Kulz, The Witch-Doctor. Destroy Kulz and his even curse will be lifted, returning the Forsaken back into the soil._

"So, Kulz is the boss we have to kill?" I asked.

"Yup, once we get rid of him the quest should be over. I'm pretty sure since this is a boss quest we're going to great crazy good gear outta this!" Zak replied. "Once you wake up a bit more let's go back there and end this thing!"

"Settle down, Zak." I interrupted, "Didn't you notice that there was a difficulty rating put beside the quest title?"

"Was that the '3+' I saw beside the title? What does that mean?"

"It's the recommended number of members you have in your party during the boss battle. Every quest with a boss ending has one of those ratings. I've only done one before and it was pretty tough. I think it'd be wise if we recruited two members to come join us rather than one, the safety is worth missing out on a bit more Col and EXP."

"If you say so, but who are we gonna find on such short circumstances?"

"You know The Aincrad Vanguard correct?"

"Of course I do, they're the strongest guild in the game at the moment! They wouldn't even accept me into their training grounds. There's no way they'd help us out."

"I once saved a Captain and Sergeant of their guild while I was in a dungeon. I guess their squadron triggered a trap and a bunch of mobs ended up spawning like crazy and circled them. I cut a path through the mobs for them from the outside and helped them flee the dungeon, but unfortunately I couldn't save the other three members of their squadron."

Zak was just looking at me in awe, his boyish face made it look as though he was looking at a super hero. "Wow Kath, you really are amazing, aren't ya?"

I chuckled at his comment. "Not as much as you'd wish to believe. As I was saying, the two members have asked to repay me in the past, but I always turned them down. Hopefully they'll help us out with this."

"Yeah they oughta! You saved their asses!"

"Well who knows what will happen, all I know is that it's starting to get dark and we should probably head back to Primum for the night. Tomorrow morning we can head over to the Aincrad Vanguard's Guild HQ and try to catch them before they go out grinding."

"Sounds good to me, let's go get some grub!"


	4. Chapter 4 - Formation

_Beep beep, beep beep. Beep beep, beep beep._

I began flailing my arms in the air as if I was trying to smack down on an alarm clock near my bed. When I finally gained my consciousness I could see the alarm clock I set blinking and beeping in front of me. I rolled my legs over my bed and sat up so I could open the window and turn off this annoying beeping. Almost immediately after, I heard some loud footsteps outside my door.

 _CRASH!_ Suddenly my door flew open and Zak's body flopped into the room, falling on the ground.

"Get up, Kath! It's time to kick Kulz's ass!" Zak said, excited. He was already fully equipped with his armour and had his axe in his hands. It's a good thing the walls were indestructible or else he probably would have chopped his way in.

"Give me a second, I'm not even dressed yet. Go wait in the diner downstairs, I'll meet you there for breakfast."

"Alright, but if you take too long I'm eating without you!" Zak got up and left the room we rented. It was my first time renting a room with someone and I never knew how big the two-bedroom rooms were. Not only did we each get our own bedrooms but we also had a relatively nice sized living room to hangout in. It was a good feeling knowing that someone liked you enough to share a room with.

I got up from my bed and opened up my inventory menu. One by one I began equipping my armour pieces. Piece after piece appeared out of thin air onto my body and I was ready to go.

As I was about to leave the inn room I took one last glance at the place where I spent my first night with my first friend.

I headed downstairs to the by-day diner and right in a window booth I could see Zak waiting there very impatiently. It was fairly dead in here this early in the morning, but when the place opens up the tavern at night it can get very hectic.

"Hurry up, Kath! I'm starving!" yelled Zak upon seeing me. I quickly walked over and took a seat on the opposite side of the booth.

"Settle down, we only have time for a light snack anyways." I told Zak. "The Aincrad Vanguard usually sends out their squadspretty early to get a full day's worth of grinding."

"Fine then, I'll get something to go." Zak said, unimpressed. "So, how do you plan on asking these guys for help anyways? I don't think 'Hey remember that one time I saved you? Time to pay me back.' is going to work."

"I'm going to share the quest with them and once they realize there is a good chance at getting some strong gear they'll want to join."

"I just hope they don't take anything good away from me."

"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine."

The NPC waitress came over to our table, it was weird how they acted exactly the same as a normal person would.

"Can I take your order please?"

"Two crepes to-go, please!" replied Zak enthusiastically. The waitress wrote on a notepad she had in her hand and proceeded to walk back into the kitchen. I wondered if there's even anything on that notepad.

A moment later she came back out with two freshly wrapped crepes with a delicious cream filling. "Here you go guys, have a great day!" As we were handed the crepes I could hear the sounds of a cash register opening, signalling that money had been taken from our inventories.

"Alright, let's get going." I said to Zak.

"Okay okay"

We left the diner and entered the streets of Primum for what felt like the millionth time. The streets weren't too bad considering it was early in the morning; the most we could see was shop owners opening their stores.

"Where's the Aincrad Vanguard's Guild Headquarters located?" asked Zak.

"It's near the town hall. They're the only guild to have accumulated enough money to purchase a headquarters, so they made sure to take the nicest spot."

"Makes sense. Let's head out."

We started walking through the marketplace and would occasionally get hassled by a merchant selling the 'next big thing', be it a new mineral found for smithing or even just a new kind of food. It was always a new experience when you walked through these streets and it was honestly quite refreshing to know that just because you're trapped inside a game, it didn't mean everything was always going to be the same. After about 15 minutes of wandering around with Zak we entered the downtown district.

"So who are these guys we're meeting?" Zak asked.

"The first person is the Captain, Treyhax. The other person is his Lieutenant, Swipe. They're both speed based fighters. The two of them would make us look like turtles if we were to PvP them."

"I couldn't imagine having a build like that… One hit from a monster would be a huge chunk of your HP."

"Well when you're as fast as these guys, it's not often that you get hit. Anyways, we're approaching their HQ. It's just around this corner."

"Okay cool. Let's go meet these guys."

We turned the corner and there it was in all its glory: The Aincrad Vanguard Headquarters. It wasn't much bigger than an inn, but considering no other guild was even close to affording a headquarters yet, the Aincrad Vanguard was extremely far ahead.

"This is it." I told Zak as I stopped in front of the building.

"Wow! Could you imagine this place being your home?"

"It's not just a home, ya know? They also deal with all of their guild business here. Anything from forming new alliances to recruitment is done here." I started walking towards the door of the building and was stopped by a red window that appeared in front of my face.

 **PRIVATE PROPERTY – AINCRAD VANGUARD  
PRIVELEGES – INSUFFICIENT  
REQUEST ENTRANCE?  
YES | NO**

I lifted a hand and pressed **YES**. The window transferred over to a screen requesting me to type in the username of the member I wished to contact. I typed in the name _Treyhax_. After a few moments a new screen appeared in front of me, this time it was green.

 **ENTRY PERMISSION GRANTED**

I looked over at Zak and nodded for him to follow me inside. I could hear Zak jumping in excitement behind me, what a loser. I opened the door and we walked into their lounge. It was a fairly big lounge; it had several couches for seating, pieces of artwork and guild emblems on the walls, and a blazing fire place.

I could see Treyhax across the room standing by the fire place. He was wearing very light and compact armour and had a metal shoulder plate on his left shoulder. Strapped across his back was his glaive. Beside him was Swipe; he was wearing his brown leather armour and had his single longsword sheathed on his hip. The two of them were leaning against the wall, staring us down.

As I started walking across the room to greet them they also began walking towards us. Eventually we met in the middle of the room.

"Long time no see, Kathrall," said Treyhax. "What can we do for you?"

"Let's sit down," I answered. "this might take a while."

Trey nodded towards one of the tables set up in the lounge and lead us there. I got right to business. "This is my friend Zak. To try and make a long story short, we've stumbled across a new sub-boss quest. After working on a quest called _The Forsaken Village_ we were given info on the sub-boss Kulz. He's a witch doctor so I'm assuming he'll be using some sort of undead trickery to summon up a handful of mobs."

"So you want our help?" Treyhax interrupted.

"We're not mercenaries, you know?" said Swipe. "We're not ungrateful for how you saved our lives, but we have levelling quotas to make and a squadron to lead."

"Yes I know that, bu-"

"Well the loot and experience from this quest is gonna be a hell of a lot more than you going out and killing random weak mobs!" Zak interrupted.

Swipe looked away, not convinced, but I could see that Treyhax had some interest in what we were talking about. "Go on, Kathrall. I'm listening." He said.

"What my friend is trying to say is that this is a great opportunity for you guys to not only get a big chunk of experience, but also a chance at getting stronger weapons."

"How can we guarantee that we'll get new weapons?" asked Treyhax.

"It's simple, look at the quest rewards for what the quest I'm about to share with you." After operating through my menu to my quest log, I sent the quest to Treyhax. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped slightly.

"'Rewards: 4000 Col and 375 EXP," Treyhax read aloud.

"Are you sure, Trey?" Swipe asked. "Don't joke around like that." Treyhax just sat there looking at the screen.

Regular quests you would fulfill up until this point had a significant difference in reward value. The previous sub-boss quest that I did with another party only rewarded us with around 1500 Col and a lot less experience.

"So, what's the verdict here guys?" I asked. "That sum of money can easily get you a new weapon or some new armour, especially with the discount towards your blacksmith guild members. Do you want to help us or not?"

"I only do what my captain says. If he says we're not doing it, then we don't, if he says we are doing it, we do." Swipe said as he looked over to Treyhax waiting for him to say something.

Treyhax still sat there staring at the screen, motionless. "You really know how to bargain a person." he said, grinning. He lifted his hand a clicked the _Accept_ icon. "You have our help."

I stood up and the rest followed. I reached out to shake Treyhax's hand. He reached for mine and we gave each other a firm shake. I would have gone to shake Swipe's hand as well, but I wasn't sure how he'd react to it.

I opened up my menu again and this time invited both Treyhax and Swipe to the party. In an instant they joined and our group doubled in size.

"Well then, let's go kick that monster's ass!" Zak said enthusiastically with a smile on his face.

"Is he always like this?" asked Swipe.

"Hahaha, you better believe it!" Zak chirped back. Swipe looked like he was in pain.

"Alright then, time to go?" Treyhax asked me.

"Yeah, grab anything you might need and meet us at the northern city gates by noon." I gave them both a nod. "Alright Zak, let's go prep for today."

"You got it, buddy."

Zak and I turned around to leave. He looked over at me as we left the building, "Can those guys really help us? They didn't look very tough; they're barely wearing any armour."

"Don't worry, Zak, there's more to them than meets the eye."


	5. Chapter 5 - Combat

_Dong, dong._

The loud chimes from the city bells rang out, signalling that it was noon.

"Where are those guys?" asked Zak impatiently. "We told them to be here by noon. I thought you said these guys were quick, Kath?"

"Don't worry," I laughed, "They'll be here any second. Treyhax isn't one to keep people waiting." Almost immediately after finishing my sentence we could see Treyhax and Swipe emerge from one of the large crowds around the northern gate.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Kathrall." Treyhax apologized. "We're ready to go whenever."

"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" shouted Zak, enthusiastically. "Come on Kath, let's lead the way."

"Actually Zak, you're going to be walking with Swipe back there."

"What?!" they both shouted.

"Is that a joke, captain?" Swipe asked Treyhax.

"No jokes here. Kathrall and I have yet to discuss a proper strategy of approaching Kulz. Him and I will be leading the way, you two try to stay quiet."

Swipe crossed his arms as a sign of disapproval, but reluctantly obeyed the order. Zak of course had a smile on his face; he could make the best out of any situation.

"I guess we didn't get formally introduced last time." Zak said to Swipe. "I'm Zak, glad to make your acquaintance." He smiled and raised his hand.

"I'm Swipe, I hope we work well together." He said, lifting his hand up and giving Zak a firm shake.

"Alright then," I said, "let's head out." Treyhax and I took the lead, discussing what possible strategies we could employ.

"A witch doctor, eh?" Treyhax said. "You're probably right guessing he'll spawn up some kind of zombie ads. How do you propose we handle that?"

"In my opinion it would make more sense for you and Swipe to go after the individual ads due to your high speed and damage. Zak and I are well equipped with armour, so we have a better chance of taking hits from Kulz than you guys do."  
"Sounds like a plan. How far away is the village?"

"Not too far away. About a 35-50 minute walk north-west into the foothills. We're going to have to fight our way in though, there are several _Forsaken Villagers_ lurking around the perimeter. Zak and I took one out fairly easily, they're quick, but they have remarkably weak defensive stats."

"Doesn't sound like anything we can't handle. We'll enter the village with caution and avoid as much confrontation as possible."

"If we accidentally stumble upon an ambush, the only plan we will have will be me using Taunt and you guys picking off the mobs one by one before they can finish me. My taunt can only draw their aggro for 10 seconds, so you'll have to be quick."

"Aren't I always?" Treyhax said, smirking.

I stopped and looked him dead in the eye. "Don't get too ahead of yourself; once a battle starts you can never know how it's going to finish. The last thing we want is someone getting hurt."

"You don't think I know that?" he said, clenching his fists with his eyes still locked on mine. "You personally know what happened to me, to the ones I was supposed to lead and what happened to them. The ones that I failed... the ones that I led to death. I have to live with that nightmare everyday... Every god damned day. You don't think that I prioritize safety? It's a fluke that I'm even here today to help with this damn quest, I'm not about to let this shred of life run out."

He turned his shoulder and stomped ahead, still clenching his fists. I was completely speechless and dumbfounded. I sat there motionlessly watching him until I heard Zak and Swipe bickering at each other.

"Would you cut it out!?" Swipe yelled at Zak. "I'm trying to focus on the battle we're about to have. The battle that's a matter of life and death. You shouldn't be so carefree."

"What are ya talking about!?" Zak replied, disgusted. "If we can't unwind before a fight then it's going to be even more tiring."

"Tiring? That's your first concern? Not the fact that you or any one of us could cease to exist in an hour?"

"Oh please, with Kath and I here there's no chance we'll fail."

"Cut the bickering you two." I interrupted. "We're getting close to the village." I pointed up to the hilltops and peaking over top of the hills several buildings could be seen. "Make sure all of your gear and items are ready for combat."

The two gave me a firm look and nodded their heads.

As we began to approach the village there was a drastic change in the atmosphere. Everything seemed darker, tensions grew higher, and the stench of death took over the air.

"What's the information on the monsters located in the village?" asked Treyhax. "Abilities, levels, weaponry. I want it all."

"They're undead monsters called _Forsaken Villagers_ , but for some reason they move quite faster than regular undead."

"Are you positive it's an undead?" Swipe asked.

"I'm sure of it. It had rotting blue skin and was definitely not living."

"Odd..." Treyhax said, bringing his hand to his chin. "I've never heard of undead monsters that weren't slow moving. Stereotypically they're slow, but pack big punches."

"They're not just quick; they still pack a pretty heavy punch. I blocked a punch from the monster and it was definitely not weak."

"Speaking of which, did it use any weapons or abilities?"

"None that we saw. Considering we took it out with only one attack they can't be much higher than level 7. It was unarmed and mainly attacked with punches, but we only saw the one monster. For all we know there could be more with weapons or even skills."

"I guess we'll have to learn from experience." Zak chipped in, smiling.

"Alright, that's all the information we need." Treyhax stood up and clenched his fists. "Let's take down Kulz."

We climbed the final hill and the village entrance was in plain sight. All life around the village had been decimated. The trees were broken and leafless, the grass was dead and returned to dirt, and the smell of death took over the air.

We all readied our weapons and slowly began to enter the village. Strangely, it looked more abandoned than haunted. The houses and stores were still intact, though most of them had broken windows or boards.

"Two monsters, ten o'clock!" yelled Swipe.

We all turned to face our opponents. Sure enough, they were identical to the monster that chased Zak, though certain disfigurements could distinguish them.

"Kathrall and Zak, take the one on the left. We'll handle the one on the right." Zak and I shook our heads and took off.

As we were closing in on the monster I could hear a flurry of footsteps behind us and in a flash Swipe and Treyhax blew past us towards their target.

"Woah... you weren't kidding, were ya?" said Zak.

"Focus on our monster; you can drool over their speed later. We'll do the same as before."

Once we were about ten meters away from the zombie it began running towards us, raising a fist. Closing the gap, I jumped into the monster's attack face first, blocking it with my shield. I pushed the monster back, staggering it. While the monster was off balance I brought my mace up from my side, striking the zombie's chin upwards.

I shouted the command for my shield skill while spinning to gain momentum.

"Shield Bash!" I yelled, directly smashing my shield into the face of the monster. "Now, Zak!"

Before I could even say anything Zak was already in the air. He came flying down towards the monster with his axe held high above his head.

"Decimate!" yelled Zak. He brought his axe down and sliced the monster vertically in half, bursting it into pixels. The force from the skill carried through to the ground and left a large crater where the monster was standing.

"I didn't know you were keeping something like that away from me." I said to Zak.

"Ha, pretty cool, huh? It's a skill I picked up a while ago." He smiled. "I figured it was my turn to show off."

 _Huah!_

I looked over to see Treyhax and Swipe taking out their monster. With a series of lightning fast attacks, Treyhax pierced his spear through the monsters chest, bursting it into pixels. The speed and synergy that they operated at made Zak and I look like kindergarteners. I guess that's the benefit of always training with the same person.

"Wow, you guys are awesome!" Zak yelled, excited. "I guess that's why you don't wear any real armour."

"It's not like not wearing armour automatically makes you fast, we had to train for this type of combat." Swipe replied. "Dodging over blocking, fast attacks over heavy ones, this is the way we prefer to fight."

"Man I wish I knew it was so OP, I've definitely been levelling up the wrong weapon." Zak laughed.

Swipe looked unimpressed with Zak's enthusiasm, but Treyhax didn't seem to mind.

"What do we do next?" I asked.

"We need to find Kulz while avoiding as many of these things as possible. A minor scrap like this might not seem like much, but after a while it starts to wear you down and that's definitely not what you want during a boss fight."

"I agree." I said. "What do you propose we do?"

"I'm assuming that Kulz is hulled up in the middle of this place, so the Town Hall is the most likely area to find him. We'll get off the open roads and travel through the houses and alleyways until we have a visual on where we may find him."

We all nodded in agreement to the plan. I guess this is why Treyhax was appointed to captain, his instincts and leadership skills are amazing.

"Follow me. Make sure to be as discreet as possible." Treyhax said, taking off into an alleyway.

We travelled through a system of alleyways and eventually had to cut through one of the abandoned houses. Thankfully some of the walling was damaged so we could slip inside quietly. The house lay in front of the marketplace area of the village. We could hear the zombies moaning outside.

"How do you propose we cross the street undetected?" I asked Treyhax.

"I have an idea, but I'm not sure whether or not it'll work."

"If there's a chance it'll work you may as well go for it."

After saying that, Treyhax stood up and began going to the upper floor of the abandoned home.

"You guys sit tight, I'll be right back."

I started looking around the house out of boredom. Everything was covered in dust and dirt, most of the furniture was broken, and the home looked uninhabitable. I walked over to a cabinet in what used to be a living room. On the cabinet I found picture frames of a family. A mom, a dad, and a daughter. _They really gave backstory to this place, didn't they?_ I thought to myself. I couldn't help but think that the daughter looked familiar... _Who does she remind me of?_

 _BANG!_

My train of thought was interrupted by a loud crashing noise in the alleyway behind the house. A few seconds later I heard a rush of footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Well, that ought to keep them busy." Treyhax said, brushing dust and dirt off his hands.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Pretty simple, really. I just threw a handful of bricks out of one of the windows upstairs."

Outside we could hear the monsters running towards the back of the house.

"And they took the bait. Hurry up, the diversion won't last long." We ran through the house, grabbed Swipe and Zak, and sprinted out the front door of the house across the empty marketplace.

"Good job, Captain." Swipe said as we entered the new system of alleyways.

"Alright, shouldn't be much longer before we make it to the Town Square." Treyhax told us. "Make sure you're all on high alert."

The alleyways seemed like an endless maze. One turn after another, it continued on with no end in sight. The only real distinct separations between the houses were how badly or mildly the houses were destroyed. I couldn't get my mind off of why the game developers put so much extra work into these houses. Why they contained fictional families with fictional stories. I understand game depth, but this seemed like a lot.

"Hold!" Treyhax commanded, raising a hand. The Town Square is at the end of this alleyway. I can see the Town Hall from here. It appears to be guarded."

"What!?" Zak interrupted. "Guarded by what?"

"Come take a look for yourselves."

We peeked our heads forwards to see what could be guarding the entrance. Sure enough, it was another _Forsaken Villager_ , but this one was drastically different. It was a lot larger than the others, probably around three meters tall. It was also armed. All over its body was iron plate armour and in its right hand it wielded a large sword, which was most likely a two-handed sword to a normal person.

"Holy shit, that thing's huge!" Zak said. "That's not even the boss?"

"Not only is its name _Forsaken Villager_ , but it looks nothing like a Witchdoctor." added Swipe.

"Well either way, we need to get through it." I said.

"Kath is right, we have to get through this monster to finish the quest." said Treyhax, finally. "Kathrall, do you think you can tank it alone?"

"I should be fine, but I don't think my Crowd-Control abilities are going to work on it."

"Maces are heavily utility based, correct? I'd imagine you have some form of de-buffing him."

"Yeah, there are two skills I could use. I have Denting Blow which reduces the targets armour for a short period of time and Fracture which make one of his limbs immobile." 

"Okay, that should work. Zak, you'll be in the front with Kath. Whenever you see an opening, make an attack. Swipe and I will flank from his sides and rear, we'll also take out any mobs that might stumble by. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!" we all shouted.

"Alright, let's take this big fucker out. Kathrall, lead the way."

I nodded my head and broke from the alleyway, charging towards the massive zombie. As I approached it I noticed something different about this monster... it had two health bars.

"Trey-"

"I see it, Kath." Treyhax interrupted. "Continue with the plan."

I continued to charge at the giant. Eventually it let out a roar that shook even the ground and began charging towards us.

"Swipe, split!" yelled Treyhax, as him and Swipe dashed to the sides of the monster.

The zombie swung its giant sword towards me. I raised my shield and braced for impact. The blow was heavier than anything that had ever come into contact with me. It felt like a mountain was running into me. I tried to hold my ground as the monster unleashed a barrage of attacks on me. With each blow I could feel myself being pushed back more and more. The chain of attacks began to repeat itself over and over.

 _Three... two... one... NOW!_

I jumped to the side, dodging the monsters sword, and readied my mace to use a skill.

"Denting Blow!" I yelled, as I dashed towards the monster. It swung at me again, this time horizontally. I jumped into the air and swung my mace sideways into where the monsters ribcage would be. Shortly afterwards the armour began to crack and an icon of a broken shield began hovering above the monster's head, signalling the de-buff.

"Treyhax, Swipe, Zak, now!" I yelled.

In a flash, Treyhax and Swipe dashed towards the monster and they both began to activate skills.

"Impale!" Treyhax yelled.

"Sword Spin!" followed Swipe.

Treyhax flipped into the air and drove his spear right through where the heart of this monster should have been. Immediately afterwards, Swipe came flying in. Spinning in mid-air, he slashed apart the monsters ribcage where I cracked the armour.

The monster fell to one knee, clutching its side.

"Don't forget about me!" Zak yelled. "Decimate!"

Zak jumped into the air and lifted his axe above his head.

"Decimate!" he shouted, activating his skill.

He began to bring his axe down with the same deadly force he had last time.

 _CRASH!_

Dust and dirt scattered everywhere from the force of the impact. It was impossible to see anything that was going on. After a couple of seconds the dust settled and I could see Zak and the monster... it was standing there holding the blade of Zak's axe between its hands.

"No way... it caught my attack." Zak mumbled to himself.

I could see the monster begin to wind its leg back, readying for an attack.

"Zak, run!" I yelled.

He sat there, stunned. He must not have been able to believe the strength of the zombie. It finally launched its attack on the motionless Zak. The monster swept its hefty leg into Zak's side and sent him flying into the wall of a building.

"ZAK!"


	6. Chapter 6 - Retaliation

Virtual Reality

Zak's body flew through the air like a ragdoll, colliding into the side of a nearby building. Treyhax and Swipe looked stunned after witnessing what just happened, but then I looked up to inspect the monster's HP bar. Only a quarter of his HP was missing even after we dished out an arsenal of weapon skills. Finally one of us broke the silence.

"Kathrall, go tend to Zak and make sure he's okay. We'll hold him off for now," commanded Treyhax. I nodded and sprinted over to Zak's motionless body.

Crouching next to him, I paused and examined his HP bar in the top left corner of my vision. His HP was reduced down to the Red Zone with just _one_ attack. I turned around to shout at Treyhax.

"Guys, don't let that thing hit you. It packs a big punch."

They both nodded and began charging at the monster.

"Ugh..."

Zak let out a painful moan and began pulling himself to sit upright.

"Zak! Are you okay?" I asked, running over to his side.

"What… kind of bullshit is that?" said Zak in a painful tone.

"Are you going to be okay?" I pulled out an HP potion and handed it to Zak. He took the potion out of my hand reluctantly and quickly gulped it down.

"Yeah I'll be fine. No more screwing around."

 _CRASH!_

I turned around to see Treyhax and Swipe fighting the monster. They were primarily focused on dodges the monster's attacks. Occasionally one of them would make a quick attack at the zombie, but they couldn't make a fatal attack without risking their own injury.

"They need our help. Let's go." I stood up and extended my arm out to Zak.

He nodded his head in agreement and reached out for my hand. I quickly pulled him back up to his feet. "Together," I said to him with a grin.

"Let's do this." he said, smiling.

We turned around and bolted towards the ongoing battle.

"Move guys, I've got a plan." I shouted.

Treyhax and Swipe both jumped away from the monster to give me an opening to attack. I continued my high speed charge at the monster, capturing its attention.

"Wait for my signal!" I commanded. The monster raised its giant sword in the air and I raised my shield to block it. The heavy attack pushed me down to one knee and sent vibrations all throughout my body. The monster winded up for another attack, but before he could bring his sword down I made my move.

I jumped upwards towards the monsters weapon and began to activate the one mace skill I'd been saving.

"Fracture!"

I lifted my mace high above my head and with the momentum of my falling body I smashed it downwards into the right forearm of the zombie. After a second the monster's forearm cracked and looked as if it was a noodle.

The monster let out a painful roar and his giant sword fell from its hands.

"Now!" I shouted.

The three of them quickly reacted to my command.

"I'm first at crushing this bastard this time!" shouted Zak. He ran towards the monster and swung his axe sideways at the monster, delivering a heavy blow and knocking it to the ground.

Swipe and Treyhax were quick to follow the attack and simultaneously jumped towards the fallen enemy. Swipe jumped on top of the monster, driving his sword through its shoulder and pinning it to the ground.

"Now, Captain!"

Treyhax positioned himself above the monster and his glaive began to glow a bright red colour.

"Vital Thrusts!" he shouted. In a lighting fast, red blur, he stabbed the monster in several fatal points. Heart, jugular, brain, the barrage of attacks continued until he jumped back and Zak took over his position.

"Let's see you block this attack," he said, angrily. His axe began glowing a vibrant green colour and his face tensed. "Rend!"

Zak brought his axe down into the chest of the zombie, just enough to cut a couple inches into the monsters skin. After a short pause, Zak ripped his axe downwards, tearing a wide open wound in the monster and causing it to bleed severely.

The monster let out a painful moan as his health bar began depleting. For some reason it wouldn't stop. _Was that a damage-over-time skill?_ The monster continued to bleed until it finally let out one last roar and ran out of HP, bursting into pixels.

Zak, Treyhax, and Swipe all fell to the ground exhausted.

"Can we take a lunch break now, guys?" Zak asked.

"We can't exactly camp out here," replied Treyhax. "In a short while the monster is going to respawn and we'll have to do this battle all over again."

"I guess you've got a point, I'm having a snack at the very least."

I walked over to the three of them with a grin on my face.

"What are you so happy about, Kath?" Zak asked.

"It's just fun being around you guys," I answered. "I've never had this much fun partying with people before." My smile widened and it must have been contagious because Zak and Treyhax sure enough shot me a smile back. Even Swipe grinned a bit.

"Yeah yeah, but don't forget who your first friend was, Kath!" Zak joked.

"Okay, let's get ready for the main event," said Treyhax. "Everyone make sure you're at 100% HP. Not 85, not 95, 100."

"Captain, what's the plan?" asked Swipe.

"We'll stick with the same strategy. Kathrall and Zak will keep the attention of Kulz, he should be weaker physically than that last _Forsaken Villager_ , so melee combat shouldn't be a problem. If Kulz summons ads like we suspect, then Swipe and I dispose of them as quickly as possible. We will lend our support for battling Kulz whenever we get the chance, but be prepared to have to hold him down as two for the majority of the fight."

"Understood," I said. "I'll lead the way. Zak, stay close to me. I'll hold his aggro and whenever you see an opening take it."

"You got it!" Zak replied. "After you."

I approached the giant doors of the stone building. I put my hand on the door and a window popped up.

 **KULZ'S LAIR  
ENTER?  
YES | NO**

I turned around and took a glance at my party members. Their faces bore the expressions of determination, excitement, and anxiousness. I myself was extremely anxious to see how this would all play out. After receiving a final nod from Treyhax I turned back around and faced the screen. I took a deep breath, raised my hand, and pressed the **YES** button. Within seconds, the massive wooden doors began to slowly open, creaking along the way. Inside the building appeared to be a hall, but it was hard to tell. The entire interior of the building was pitch black. I couldn't see a thing.

"Let's go." I said.

We all stormed into the darkness of the building. The only light we had was from the doorway, but that only extended a few meters.

"What the hell's this all about?" Zak said from the darkness.

"Be patient." said Swipe. "I'm sure it's going to happen soon enough."

"What's going to ha–"

Zak was interrupted by a familiar creaking noise… _The doors were closing in on us!?_ I turned back around to see the doors slowly closing, inch by inch. With it, the very minimal light we had was beginning to disappear as well.

"Like hell we're getting trapped in here!" Zak shouted.

I couldn't see much, but I heard loud and fast footsteps heading towards the door. Eventually I saw Zak's silhouette in front of the fading light, getting dimmer and dimmer by the second.

"Zak, don't worry," Treyhax said.

"Don't worry? We can't see a god damned thing!"

"Just give it a second."

"Whatever." Zak sighed.

We all stood there patiently in the dark, waiting for something to happen. The atmosphere continued to grow more and more eerie. Silence had taken over the room, only to be broken by a strange sound.

 _Poof!_

"What was that?" Zak asked.

"Take a look," Swipe answered. "It's beginning."

I looked around and finally I saw what Swipe was talking about, two purple flames high up the walls of the hallway, parallel to each other.

 _Poof, poof!_

One after the other, more flames began to spark up. In a line gradually moving deeper and deeper into the hallway, more and more purple flames appeared. They continued with that pattern until they started moving inwards, meeting at the end of the hall. Behind the finals flames was a large silhouette.

 _BOOM!_

A giant purple flame sparked up in front of the shadowy figure. The shadowed figure moved towards the flame, finally revealing itself.

Standing at about 6 meters tall was a slim humanoid. In its right hand was a large staff, as tall as the figure itself. The staff appeared to be the spinal cord and skull of a monster. Decorated all along its body were bones, skulls, and pieces of cloth. Its calves were heavily bandaged and its wrist guards had large spikes extending from outside of them. Its face was hidden under a skull mask and black hair spiked out from behind it. Above its head were three health bars accompanied by a name: _Kulz, the Witchdoctor._

"Pfft, this guy doesn't look too tough," mocked Zak. He looked over at me with his usual grin on his face, except this one had a lot more determination behind it. "Let's take him down, Kath."

I looked at him and smiled back. I tightened my grip on my mace and shield. "Treyhax and Swipe, get in position," I commanded. "The real battle begins now."


	7. Chapter 7 - Witchdoctor

_Huff._

I let out a deep breath and widened my eyes.

"Attack!" I shouted. We all broke into a sprint towards Kulz. Like a synchronized wolf pack, we all separated ourselves into our proper striking positions. Treyhax and Swipe positioned themselves on the left and right flanks, ready to pounce on Kulz and take out any monsters that might show up. Zak and I were on a straight collision course with Kulz, ready to take him on face to face.

Kulz raised his staff and waved it in the air. Seconds later, four zombies began crawling out of the ground. Again, they were the same _Forsaken Villager_ monsters we've been seeing throughout this entire village, except they were equipped with weapons and armour. Strangely, all of their equipment was completely unique; none of them shared the same equipment which was a trend more than common among the same type of monster.

There was something else that stood out to me too. One of them was a female, or at least used to be. I analyzed the female zombie and I stopped dead in my tracks after seeing her face.

 _Is that? No… it can't be._

"What's wrong Kath?" asked Zak, interrupting my train of thought. "You look confused." The rest of the party stopped as well and looked over at me.

"That… that one girl zombie. I _know_ her."

"You know her? That's impossible man, she's a monster!" Zak responded.

"Back when we were making our way through the village houses, I saw a photograph of a girl in one of the houses. As soon as I saw it I knew that girl looked familiar, but after seeing this zombie version of her I know for sure who it is."

"Well who is she?" Treyhax interrupted.

"Her name was Marielle. She used to belong to a very small guild called 'The Iron Dawn' that I did a dungeon with. I kept up with their guild master a little bit after that to exchange any important game information we may have discovered, but one day he suddenly dropped off the radar. I didn't know Marielle much, but that's definitely her."

"That's insane!" Zak said. "There's no way that could be her!"

"Before their leader suddenly disappeared, he told me about how he and the rest of his guild took up residence in a small village outside of Primum. I never really bothered to ask him about the location or setting of the village. When he disappeared I just assumed he died in a dungeon, but maybe it's possible that he–"

"That he and the entire village, regardless of being a player or an NPC, were turned into zombies." Treyhax interrupted.

"Captain, are you sure?" Swipe asked. "Is there even a way for that to be possible?"

"I'm not sure what is or isn't possible in this world, but if that girl truly is who Kathrall thinks she is then that must mean something."

"I have no doubt it's her. The armour she's wearing and her sword are the same as when I last saw her."

"Swipe, this is something we'll have to report to Tryston, and only to Tryston. If the public finds out about that their friends/loved ones could possibly be turning into zombie monsters it could cause a lot of problems."

"Tryston? Who the hell is that guy?" Zak asked.

"Tryston is our guild master, the leader and strongest member of the Aincrad Vanguard."

"Well then… Maybe he is someone worth reporting this to."

"Let's just get back to focusing on the _now,_ " I interrupted. "Regardless of whether or not these monsters could have been players, they _will_ kill us. We can't hold back."

"Whatever you say, but make sure you're ready to kick some ass!" Zak said, breaking into a sprint towards Kulz.

"Zak, what are you–"

"For a hot head, he's got the right idea." Treyhax said, smirking. "Let's go Swipe."

Swipe gave a nod to his captain and the two of them broke out towards the newly spawned monsters.

"Kathrall, we've got these guys, you take care of the big one," Treyhax yelled.

I nodded my head to him and sprinted to catch up to Zak.

"When you see an opening, take it. You got it, Zak?"

"Don't worry, I'm ready."

My heartbeat grew louder and louder with every step I took towards Kulz, like a drum beating in an empty cavern. The beat shook my entire body; adrenaline was completely taking over.

When we got within an approximate 15 metre range of Kulz he prepared his attack.

Kulz lifted his left hand in there air and after muttering a several words of a different language, a purple flame erupted in his hand.

"Here it comes, Zak!"

Zak and I braced ourselves for the oncoming attack. Kulz began to twist and turn his body, throwing the ball of flame at us like a pitcher throwing a baseball.

"Get behind me!" I shouted.

Zak quickly jumped behind me, just before the flame came into contact with us. I raised my shield and braced myself for the attack. I don't think I will ever forget the heat I felt blocking that spell.

The fireball exploded upon impact and continued to push forward. The purple flames blasted to the sides of my shield and continued moving forwards, like water passing a boulder in a river.

I peeked over my shield to see Kulz preparing to launch the same spell. It appeared he could continue to send the fireballs out consecutively.

I stood there taking the hits, explosion after explostion. I could see my HP bar slowly decreasing, but not by enough to cause immediate alarm.

I looked through the flames to see Treyhax and Swipe battling the monsters, both of them taking on a duo. Though outnumbered, they seemed to be having a much easier time than we were.

"Zak, get ready to launch a counter attack on my mark. We have to close the gap ASAP."

"I'm ready and I know what you mean, we're like sitting ducks if we can't get in melee range."

I waited for the blast to settle down and weaken. When I noticed a significant decrease in the force of the flames, I called to Zak.

"NOW!"

I planted my feet hard into the ground, pushing my shield and shoulder forward as hard as I could, treading through the purple flames. Step by step we got closer to Kulz, but the barrage of flames didn't end.

"Okay Kath, we're close enough to begin an attack."

"Alright, let's do this."

With all my strength I thrusted my shield upwards, pushing the fireball into the air. Without even having to give a command Zak flew by me to launch his attack on Kulz.

"Try to keep up, buddy!" he yelled without looking back.

I let out a smile. _He really is a hot head, isn't he?_

I followed Zak as he sprinted towards Kulz, raising his axe for an attack. As we closed in on him he didn't have much of a reaction, which surprised me. _Why isn't he retreating? You'd expect a magic user to want to great distance right?_

"Zak, be careful!" I yelled to him. "He might have something planned, don't do anything reckless."

"I think he's just scared senseless of what's about to hit him!" Zak replied. Immediately after, Zak's axe lit up in a bright green colour. He crouched slightly, putting his weight on his right leg and vaulted himself towards Kulz. Zak flew through the air towards Kulz, preparing to swing his axe. Kulz still sat there motionlessly as Zak closed in on him.

"Rend!" shouted Zak, activating his axe skill. He swung his axe sideways towards Kulz right side.

 _CLANG!_

Zak's axe collided with Kulz's right arm, but froze on impact. I took a closer look at the area of impact and I could see a bright reflection beaming from where Kulz was hit. _Is that… invisible armour?_

"Zak, get out of there!" I shouted.

Zak quickly turned to jump away, but Kulz was already waving his hand in the air, casting a spell.

"Zak behind you!"

Another purple flame sparked to life in Kulz's hand and like before he prepared to launch it, only this time at point blank range.

Zak turned around to see the witchdoctor throwing the ball of fire at him and out of pure instinct swung his axe upwards. The blade sliced vertically through the fireball, sending two pieces of it scattering past Zak.

Kulz let out a grunt and jumped backwards, creating a gap between him and Zak. Zak sat there looking confused as to why he wasn't dead, but quickly snapped back to reality and jumped back to my side.

 _SMASH!_

I looked over my shoulder to see Treyhax and Swipe coming towards us through a cloud of pixels. Their HP bars were scratched a little, but nothing for us to worry about.

"What the hell just happened?" said Zak, frustrated.

"What are you talking about?" said Treyhax.

"I know for a fact I just landed my axe skill on that boney bastard, but nothing happened. My axe literally stopped on impact!"

"Calm down Zak, that attack gave us a lot of intel." I interrupted.

"What kind of intel?" asked Treyhax.

"I believe that he has an invisible coating of armour, it's probably another spell of his."

"Invisible armour? You gotta be kidding me." said Zak.

"Well, I don't think it'll be that much of a problem, I already have a plan that I think will work quite well."

"Well let's hear it, buddy!"

"The plan in its core concept is quite simply; we break the armour. One thing I noticed about the armour was that when Zak made impact with it, the tension of the armour increased to the point of it becoming visible. The plan will be for Treyhax, Zak, and I to simultaneously attack different parts of his armour to make it break."

"What does that leave me to do? Nothing?" asked Swipe.

"I was just about to explain that part. Treyhax and Swipe, you might not have noticed it but those fireballs that Kulz launches at us are relatively weak and easy to break. Your job Swipe, as the fastest member of this group, is to intercept any of those fireballs and slice them in half. Treyhax should be fast enough to dodge them and I can occasionally block them, but not often. Zak's weapon is too heavy for him to protect himself every time, so essentially you'll be his body guard."

"Got it."

"What are the attack points?" asked Treyhax.

"I'll take the right flank, Zak will take the middle, and you'll take the left flank. I'll use Denting Blow, Zak you'll use Decimate, and Trey you'll use Impale. The combination of our skills should be enough to crack through his armour. After his armour is broken, it's your job to come in and launch the next attack Swipe. If at any point anything goes wrong, we pull out. Everyone got the plan?"

They all looked at me with strong faces and nodded in agreement.

"Alright guys, be careful."

We turned to face Kulz once more and he was preparing to launch another barrage of fireballs.

"He can repeatedly shoot them, so stay on your toes Swipe."

"You've seen me before, Kath. I'm always one step ahead." Swipe let out a little smirk. It seemed like he was actually enjoying being with people for once.

"Alright chumps, let's do this!" shouted Zak, charging forward. "You better make sure none of those fireballs hit me, Swipe-y!"

Swipe's smirk quickly disappeared; it seems I spoke too soon. "If you call me that again I might make sure they hit you on purpose."

"Bahaha, you never get old." Zak laughed.

One by one, Kulz began firing the flames at us. As expected, Trey was able to dodge them no problem, but since he and I were at the witchdoctor's sides we weren't his main focus. A storm of fireballs came crashing towards Swipe and Zak like rain.

"Swipe, you r– " said Zak, interrupted by the blur of Swipe's lightning fast agility.

Swipe dashed from his position behind Zak and took the lead, closely analyzing the sky for which flames he would extinguish first. In the blink of an eye he darted into the air, unsheathing his blade and raising it for an attack. He came up to the first fireball and with ease sliced through it, dissipating the flame to mere sparks.

Again and again Swipe would single out the fireballs targeting Zak. The fluent motion of him jumping through the air and his deadly precision to perfectly disable the attacks was truly awe-inspiring and captivating to watch.

We finally began closing in on Kulz. With Zak charging him straight on and with Treyhax and I flanking his sides he had nowhere to run.

"Close in on him now!" I shouted to Treyhax. Him and I both sprinted towards Kulz, I glanced over to see Zak getting in position to strike.

With sweat beading down my forehead and the weight of my armour beginning to wear me out, I put all my hopes into this attack.

"Attack!"

"Impale!" shouted Treyhax, as he activated his skill. He charged at maximum speed towards Kulz and drove his cyan glowing glaive straight into him. Just like Zak's attack, there was a massive impact, but no signs of movement or struggle from Kulz besides the visible shining of the invisible armour.

Now was the time to strike, before his layer of armour could regenerate the damage it had taken.

"Denting Blow!" I shouted. I swung my mace into the other side of the witchdoctor and the backlash of force from his armour felt like it was going to snap my forearm in two.

I glanced down and analyzed the area I hit. Like before, it created signs of tension, but this time it coursed further through his body and connected with the area Treyhax affected.

"Hit him now, Zak!"

I looked over to see a big smile on Zak's face as he came soaring into Kulz.

"Let's see if you can pull that same BS again!" Zak said. He pulled his axe high above his head as it began glowing green. "Decimate!"

Kulz looked up at Zak as his attack came flying through, without even a flinch.

 _SHATTER!_

All that could be heard was the sound of glass shattering and then a shockwave that sent the three of us flying backwards.

I shook my head, trying to recollect myself. Everything looked funny and a loud ringing sat deep within my ears. _What the hell just happened?_

Before I could figure anything out I heard a loud shout that shook me out of my confusion.

"Sword Spin!"

 _Is Swipe fighting Kulz?_

I finally collected myself and looked up to see Swipe using his sword skill, directly landing his attack on Kulz's chest, but it was actually working this time.

Swipe pushed the witchdoctor back. He appeared to be stunned at the fact we managed to hurt him. His first health bar dropped by 50% which wasn't very surprising considering he was hardly wearing clothes, nevermind armour.

"Are you guys going to sit down while I solo this boss or what?" said Swipe.

"Keep your pants on," replied Zak. "We're the only reason you were able to scratch him."

"Quit the bickering you two, I think something big is about to happen," Treyhax interrupted.

We all looked over to Kulz to see what Treyhax was talking about. His skull mask was cracked and through the empty eye sockets his eyes began to glow a bright red colour. He slowly raised his arms up into the air, waved his staff around, and began chanting another spell.

" _Ex infimo inferno furore damnaret omnes mortui!"_

The ground below us began to shake and tremors could be felt throughout the entire building. The flooring began to crack open and more ads were summoned, but these ones were different.

Giant and hulking, these zombies resembled that of the one we fought outside of the building, except this time we were faced with 4 of them.

The four of us stood there paralyzed.

"Four of these things!?" said Zak, breaking the silence. "I almost died when we took on one of these bastards."

"Calm down," I interrupted. "let's fall back for now and think of a battle plan."

"No can do, Kath," said Treyhax. "When those doors shut behind us, it confirmed that this battle was going to end with a casualty."

"Then what the hell do we do? Sit here and die?" asked Zak.

"Freaking out isn't going to help, that's for sure. Keep your cool," said Swipe.

"Don't tell me how to react; we're trapped here against these roid zombies!"

"You two can bicker at each other all you want later, but right now focus on the battle."

Kulz pointed his staff at us and let out a vicious roar, signalling the zombies to attack. They charged at us with such ferocity that it shook the ground we stood on.

We stood there demoralized, hopeless, and lost, seemingly waiting for the inevitable. Were we really going to die here? Now?

I began looking around to see if there was anywhere we could run. To the right and left were just walls and behind us was… light? I took a closer look and could see that the door was beginning to crack open, similar to how we entered it.

"Guys, fall back to the door, NOW!" I shouted. "The door is opening."

They all looked confused as to what was going on and finally realized there was a beacon of hope laying right behind us.

"Don't just stand there, make a break for it!" commanded Treyhax.

We all turned around and sprinted our fastest for the doors as the beacon of light grew larger and brighter, but then a silhouette of a man appeared. Whoever it was, they were in the process of saving our lives. Just as we thought we were about to escape the silhouette entered the building which in turn made the doors behind him shut.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted Zak. "Leave the damn doors open so we can get out of here!"

The figure ignored Zak and proceeded to enter the building. Inch by inch we could see our freedom fading away until the large room returned to nothing but darkness. Infuriated, Zak approached the person with malicious intent.

In front of the entrance doors stood a man I didn't know, but he looked oddly familiar. He was at least six feet tall and had long curly black hair. He was suited up in heavy black armour and wielded a sword and shield. He looked like he could take twice the beating that I could.

"Just who the hell do you think yo-"

"SIR!" shouted Treyhax and Swipe from behind us, standing and giving a salute.

"At ease," replied the mystery person. "you two found yourself in quite the predicament, didn't you?"

"Yeah, you came just in time," said Treyhax. "With your help we can definitely take these guys out."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I asked.

"Pardon my manners," replied the man. "I'm Tryston, the leader of Aincrad Vanguard."


	8. Chapter 8 - Tryston

"Le-leader of the Vanguard?!" Zak stuttered as his jaw dropped.

"Yes, Zak," answered Treyhax, "This is Tryston and you should be more grateful that he showed up."

 _ROOAARRR!_

All five of us shot our heads back towards the charging zombies.

"It seems we'll have to skip the formalities," said Tryston. "I'll draw two of them away for the time being; I trust you four can handle the other two."

We nodded in agreement.

"Alright then, let's get started." Without a second thought, Tryston dashed towards the left, drawing the attention of two zombies. Zak and I seemed to be the only ones shocked he was willing to take on two of the monsters solo. I guess Trey and Swipe were used to this.

"Kath and Zak, go take out the one to the far right. We'll handle the other."

I nodded my head in agreement and turned my head towards Zak. "Let's do this and get outta here, alright?"

Zak looked at me with a confused face which quickly grew to a cheeky smile. "Don't worry, buddy. S'long as I'm here, everything is gonna be okay!"

"Boy, you really never change," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Let's do the same sequence. I'll nullify his defences and you come in for the final blow."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get on with it already!"

I smiled back at him and darted towards our target.

"Hey, no false starts!" I could hear Zak shouting from behind me. It's really quite impressive how he can manage to make a situation as dire as this one enjoyable. As I got closer to the rotting behemoth of a zombie my sense of enjoyment quickly disappeared and was replaced by determination— determination to survive.

The enemy raised its hulking arm as it charged closer to me. Without hesitation I ran into the attack, raising my shield above my head in retaliation. The zombie slammed its arm directly downwards, crashing against my shield. For some reason the impact of the attack was nowhere near the level of the zombies we faced outside.

I pushed the monsters arm off of me with ease, making it topple backwards. In the corner of my eye I could see the pixels floating in the air from the monster Trey and Swipe were matched up against.

 _Just what is going on?_

I snapped myself out of my train of thought and swung my mace backwards, preparing to go on the offensive.

"Ha, too late!" Zak said, darting ahead of me.

"What are you-"

Zak jumped towards the zombie, raising his axe above his head. He came crashing down on it in an instant, dropping the creature to its knees just before it disintegrated into pixels.

 _Did Zak just kill that thing with a single basic attack? Even if it was a critical how could that have done it in?_

I turned to Zak, pointing a finger at him. "You—"

"I was watching the others go at it and the monsters are way weaker than they were before. I knew what I was doing!" Zak interrupted with fear on his face. "No need to chew me out!"

"It's true." Treyhax said, walking over to us with Swipe. "Something must be up. My guess is since Kulz created so many of those creatures his magic must've been split up pretty thinly, not to mention how many of those fireballs he was shooting at us."

"That could be it…" I brought my right hand to my chin as I thought it over.

 _CRASH!_

The sudden noise drew all our attention. We looked over to see one of the zombies Tryston was facing raise its arm out of a crater in the ground.

Tightening the grip on my mace and shield I ran to aid Tryston.

 _Clang!_

Treyhax raised the butt end of his glaive in front of me to stop my advance.

"What are you doing Trey? Shouldn't we help him?"

"Help him?" Trey chuckled. "He's the last guy in this game who needs help."

I looked over towards Tryston and could instantly see what Trey had meant. Tryston was sliding from left and right, dodging every attack the monsters sent at him. His body was moving as fluidly as water in a river.

"Wow, that guy really is amazing!" said Zak. "Plus, he has way cooler gear than you do, Kath!"

"Oh shut up, there's a reason he can afford that and I can't, and you're watching it."

Tryston continued to just dodge their attacks. It seemed like he wasn't trying to take any offensive in this battle. One of the zombies lunged forwards, but Tryston simply spun to the left and the zombie flew past him. He finally created a good amount of space between the two giants. They were about 10 metres apart with Tryston sitting right in between them. Now would be a great time for him to take one out.

The two zombies took no time to wait and simultaneously charged towards Tryston, but he didn't budge.

"Hey, they're-!"

Swipe smacked Zak in the back of the head, interrupting him.

"Just watch."

Tryston turned his head back and shot a condescending look towards us, still not moving an inch from where he was.

Both the monsters closed the gap in an instant and swung forward with massive right haymakers. Tryston spun and crouched towards the ground, raising both his arms up. He raised his tower shield up from his left side, blocking the attack and deflecting the fist upwards. With his right arm he swung his sword up and struck the second zombies forearm with the blunt side of the blade.

 _THUD!_

The monsters simultaneously connected with each other's faces, rocking them to the ground and exploding into pixels on impact.

Zak and I looked at the scene in disbelief.

"Did… Did that really just happen?" stammered Zak.

"People's reactions to seeing Tryston fight for the first time never get old." Treyhax chuckled.

"Now's not the time for jokes, captain," Tryston said sternly, walking towards us. "That's no way to act in front of your subordinate."

"Sorry sir, I didn't mean to make light of the situation."

"I don't mean to interrupt, but let's finish off Kulz before we take a breather," Zak chipped in.

"As much as it pains me to say it, he's right," I added. "Kulz is a witchdoctor-themed boss. So far the abilities we've seen him use are creating zombies and throwing fireballs."

"Let's strike now, before he can create more adds for us to deal with." Tryston said, breaking out into a sprint towards Kulz.

"Wait, shouldn't we-"

"Just keep up with him," interrupted Treyhax as he ran past me.

Swipe, Zak, and I took no time to follow the advance. I took a good look at Kulz and although his face was covered with a mask, you could see he was fuming with rage.

Kulz dropped his staff and hunched forward, reciting another spell as his entire body tensed up.

 _Circumdabor pelle mea et os meum sanguinem incitari. Potiri, demonem inferni!_

Out of nowhere etchings of a hexagram appeared below Kulz, stopping our advance dead in its tracks.

"Is this the spell he casted before?" Tryston asked.

"No, sir, this is something completely different," Treyhax replied.

"Prepare yourselves! We don't know what's coming our way!" I shouted.

All of us took a defensive stance and observed the witchdoctors spell. Breaking from his crouched position, Kulz shot his body upwards and raised his hands in the air. The hex began spinning in circles. What started as a slow pace quickly turned into rapid spinning, similar to the blades of a helicopter.

 _KABOOM_

The hex ignited upwards several metres into the air, creating a cylinder of flames.

All of us stood there speechless, unsure of how to react.

"Uhh, did the boss just off himself?" Zak laughed.

"Now's not the time for jokes, kid," replied Tryston sternly.

From the cylindrical inferno a cracking sound could be heard, but it wasn't the cracking of flames; it bore more resemblance to that of bones being broken. That was when something began to break out of the wall of flames.

A gigantic skeletal hand set ablaze emerged from the flame, shortly followed by a forearm, foot, and leg. In a matter of seconds a skeleton dressed in flames appeared before us, with bones that seemed to be as thick as an elephant's. Kulz nearly doubled in height, but it was the width of him that made the most notable difference. With flames and waves of heat emanating from his body, Kulz let out a vicious roar and charged towards us.

"Kathrall, right?" asked Tryston.

"Yeah, that's my name."

"You and I are going to have to take every hit this thing dishes out; we don't know what'll happen if it hits one of the others. I trust the rest of you to strike at opportune times. His HP bar is still quite low so this battle can end quickly if we play this out properly."

Zak, Treyhax, and Swipe wasted no time spacing themselves away from Tryston and I. The two of us readied our defenses and charged forward to meet our final battle head on.

Kulz raised a blazing right fist in the air and swung it towards me. I raised my shield and prepared myself for the impending blow.

 _CRASH!_

I planted my feet hard onto the ground and tried to push back the attack, but it had the force of a meteor behind it. Kulz continued to press his fist forwards, pushing me backwards and knocking me off balance.

Injured and helpless on the ground, I looked up to see a tree sized left leg sweeping in my direction. I tried to gather myself to brace for the attack, but it was simply too quick.

"Don't give up yet."

In a blur of movement Tryston placed himself between Kulz and I, preparing his guard. He let his sword fall to the ground and dropped his shoulder downwards. Bracing for impact with both arms wielding the shield, Tryston went into the kick head on.

The force of the collision sent out a thunderous shockwave, creating clouds of dirt and dust. Through the clouds I could make out Tryston's figure, boldly holding his ground against Kulz.

"Shield Bash!" shouted Tryston as his shield became shrouded in gold light. With blinding speed, Tryston retracted his shield away from Kulz to create distance between the shield and foot, and in an instant pushed the shield forwardswith devastating force.

The attack threw Kulz completely off balance as a trail of cracks travelled from the point of impact up towards his hip.

"Now!" commanded Tryston.

"Decimate!"

"Impale!"

"Sword Spin!"

Zak, Treyhax, and Swipe all crashed down into Kulz with their deadliest weapon skills in perfect sequence, pinning the monster to floor.

I gathered myself and joined Tryston's side, analyzing Kulz. Cracked bones, dissipating flames, and limbs reduced to ashes— he was defeated. The health bar hovering above his head nearly dropped to zero percent. It was almost like he was living off willpower alone.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Tryston. "I'm not here to reap your glory, claim your reward so we can move on from this wretched place."

I nodded to Tryston and turned my attention back to the incapacitated heap of bones. Kulz looked up at me with one last stare, the fire in his empty eye sockets beginning to fade.

I raised my mace high into the air and with a crushing blow to the exposed skull, the witchdoctor was no more. No more than five seconds later a notification rang from my quest log.

 **FORSAKEN VILLAGE QUEST (COMPLETE)  
** **REWARD: 375 EXP, 4,000 Col  
ACCEPT REWARD**

Before I could even say anything, Zak was jumping with joy. "4,000 Col, no freakin' way!" he exclaimed. "And the experience gain? That'll almost give me two full levels, not to mention what we got from the boss and mobs!"

"Yeah, well, when your life is put on the line you really oughta get your money's worth." I chuckled. I raised my hand and pressed the holographic accept button.

 _Cha-ching!_

A sound effect like that of a cash register went off as the money and experience were transferred to me.

"Now that that's out of the way, there's a reason I came looking for you, Treyhax," said Tryston.

"Yeah I was curious about that, sir," replied Treyhax. "What was so urgent you had to rush over to see me in person?"

"We finally found what we've been looking for."

"Wait, you couldn't mean…"

"That's right, we found the chambers of the first floor boss."


	9. Chapter 9 - Hope

"Now that we're all gathered here, it's time to start prepping," announced Tryston.

Before Tryston was able to get into the details of the first floor boss we figured it would be a wiser decision to return to Primum. We were brought to the Aincrad Vanguard's main council room to take part in their battle strategy planning.

It was a large room, dimly lit by the fireplace off to the side and a few candles scattered around, with a long table placed in the centre. At the head of the table stood Tryston, still fully equipped in his armour, and down the sides of the table was a decline in ranking. First were the head captains of the numerous Vanguard squadrons, which lead to the grouping of the sergeants after that. Just about the furthest away as you could be from the head of the table sat Zak and I, accompanied by a band of sell-swords.

"Are you sure the scouts gathered as much information as possible?" asked Treyhax.

"Yes, I personally made sure of it," said Tryston. "The boss's lair is located in the mountainous northwest region. There is a dungeon called 'The Limitless Caves' which leads deep into the mountains right to the floor boss. The advance team cleared out the main bulk of goblins inhabiting the cave system, so travelling there should be relatively risk free."

"What type of monster is it?" asked a squad captain.

"The main boss is an extremely large mountain troll, by the name of _Jötunn, The Troll King_ , who wields a massive spiked club. He is a rather unintelligent creature and has a clumsy yet extremely powerful attack pattern. He also is accompanied by three monsters titled "Lesser Trolls" who are equipped with a variety of weapons and are much stronger than the average monster, requiring the attention of a full party for safety purposes."

"How did we get such detailed information, sir?" asked another captain.

"The information came at a cost… The cost of three scouts' lives." said Tryston through gritting teeth while clenching his fists.

The atmosphere of the room grew extremely dim as we all bowed our heads in respect for our fallen comrades. After a few seconds, Tryston broke the silence. "It was a shame that our brothers had to die to get this information for us, but it would be an even greater shame to let their deaths be in vain. Thanks to those brave men, we will be able to take our first steps towards defeating this death game. Defeating this boss and clearing this floor will inspire those who haven't yet fought to get in the fight, and those who have been fighting to fight even harder."

The grim atmosphere quickly returned to an enthusiastic one, spirits and morale lifted.

"So what is the plan?" asked Treyhax.

"We currently four of our six squads are prepared for this type of battle; Alpha, Bravo, Echo, and Foxtrot. Charlie Squad led the advance party and are currently undermanned and not in the proper state of mind to be in such a high pressure situation, whereas Delta Squad currently has three new recruits ill-fit for this battle."

"All due respect, sir, but there's no way Swipe and I can be out of this fight," said Treyhax eagerly.

"I complete agree with you, Captain, which is why you'll have three temporary substitutions for this battle. You are already familiar with Kathrall and Zak so I will have them accompany Delta Squad for this mission, along with a mercenary from the contracting guild Greed. I'm sure this set up shouldn't be too difficult for you to work with?"

"No sir, that is more than adequate."

"Hey wait a minute, don't we have any say in this?" interrupted Zak. "You can't just volunteer us to risk our lives!"

"While it wasn't the proper way to say it, Zak has a point. We should have at least been consulted about this beforehand, Tryston," I added.

"Of course I would have preferred to do that, but the timing didn't exactly call for it."

"Well what's in it for us if we go riskin' our necks for you?" asked Zak.

"In return for your services, along with whatever loot and EXP you will receive during the battle, we're prepared to offer you one weapon type of your choosing, crafted by our finest blacksmiths and even enhanced to a rating of +5."

"Are you serious?" I asked.

The way enhancing weapons worked was that they could be upgraded on a scale of +1 to +8 by a blacksmith, but each enhancement costed a fair bit of money since the blacksmith needed high quality resources. Getting a weapon that was more than half-way to full enhancement _and_ was a weapon you could actually use was one hell of a reward.

"I'm dead serious, Kathrall."

I looked over at Zak and before I can even say anything he was rapidly nodding his head with a huge smile on his face. I turned back to face Tryston, my face as stern and expressionless as his.

"I guess that means we're in. We'll fight alongside you all."

"Good. Now picking up where I left off, the parties who will be focusing on Jötunn are Alpha, Bravo, and Echo Squad. You three squads will attack in rotation of having one party drawing aggro from the boss while the other two attack it from the rear. Once your health bars get depleted to 50 percent switch out for the next party to start tanking. Delta and Foxtrot Squad, along with two other mercenary squads, will be tasked with taking down the Lesser Trolls. A basic attack pattern of switching should be able to eliminate the Lesser Trolls quickly, so when you do clear your monster go help the other squads finish off their Lesser Trolls. The main boss attack force should be able to hold out long enough for you all to clear your targets and regroup on Jötunn. Once we regroup, the combined seven parties should be able to easily overwhelm him, leading us to victory."

I sat there in silence thinking about hypotheticals and what-ifs. "What if he has a hidden ability which doesn't come into play until he's reaching fatal HP?" I asked.

"Unfortunately, that information at this moment in time is unattainable, but that is the likely scenario. Like with the sub-boss you faced off against and the other reported sub-bosses that have been defeated, nearing death they bring out a special power."

The quiet room which was echoing Tryston's words ignited into a room full of concerned whispers.

"I wonder what his power will be."

"Won't many of us die?"

"We're never going to get out of this game, are we?"

The atmosphere of the mood quickly changed from that of hope to despair.

"I know it's risky and we can't be sure it'll work," interrupted Tryston, silencing the concerned chatter. "But if we don't give it our all right here and now, then we definitely will be trapped in this game and will never get to see our families again. I'm not going to let that happen, I'm not going to roll over and submit to this world and neither should any of you. Whether we die in a blinding light of pixels or as wrinkled old men, we are going to die. I say we die with weapon in hand, fuelled by determination to not be defeated lying down. The opportunity is here, all we have to do is seize it!"

"OORAH!" The room of soldiers erupted, thunderous cheers and chants echoed throughout the entire headquarters.

"Glad to have you all on board, but save the celebrations for when we're having cups of ale in the second floor tavern," said Tryston, grinning. "We'll meet at the North City Gate at 06:45 tomorrow morning and will depart for the dungeon via Corridor Crystalat 07:00, so get a good night's sleep and don't be late. Dismissed."

"You ready to get out of here?" I said, turning my head to Zak.

"Of course, although I doubt I'll be getting any sleep. This fight is going to be epic!"

"I'm sure it will be, but don't let your guard down for a second. Kulz took us by surprise and nearly defeated us and he was only a sub-boss for a quest. This main boss to get off the entire floor is going to be on a completely different level."

"Yeah yeah yeah, don't worry! There isn't anything my axe can't cut down!" he replied, extending a fist out to me.

"Some things never change." I sighed, meeting his fist with mine.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you two need to come with us for a second." I turned around to see Treyhax and Swipe hovering over our shoulders.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I need you two to come with me to explain to Tryston what we saw, how that girl you knew was turned into an undead type monster."

"Good, that's been weighing heavily on me since we encountered _it_. Maybe talking to Tryston will give me some closure."

"I know what you mean, it just flat out gives me the creeps," said Zak.

Zak and I stood up to as we prepared ourselves to address Tryston.

"What if he doesn't believe you?" asked Swipe.

"Then I guess the matter would be left dead, but I really hope he keeps an open mind." I replied as I stood up to join the two.

The four of us walked towards Tryston, Treyhax and I leading the way.

"Sir, if you have a moment to spare we need to talk to you about something we encountered during the fight with Kulz," said Treyhax.

Tryston looked at us, puzzled. "Alright, you have my attention. What's the problem Captain?"

Treyhax looked around the room, between the lower authority guild members and the mercenaries there were few who could be trusted with information this huge. "It's really best we discuss this in private."

"Hmm, follow me to my office if that's the case. I was heading there to overview our strategy one last time anyways."

Tryston led us out the door into the proceeding hallway. The halls of this place were like that of a royal castle. A red carpet resting on top the limestone floor and generic paintings dimly lit in candlelight decorated the hallway. After a few turns and a couple minutes of walking we arrived at a room with a large wooden door. Tryston raised his hand to the door, generating a menu, and pressing the unlock button.

 _Click_

Tryston pushed the door open and gestured his arm for us to enter. Treyhax led the way followed by Swipe, Zak, and myself. Inside the room was a lone desk riddled with documents, several bookshelves—although I doubted you could read anything on them—and a window overlooking Primum. Tryston closed the door and after hearing another assuring _click_ that the door was locked, proceeded past us and sat down at his desk, resting his hands on his chin.

"So, what's troubling you, Treyhax? You've seemed a little off since I found you this afternoon."

"It's best if I let Kathrall do the explaining here."

Tryston turned his gaze to me. "Oh, really now? Well then, Kathrall, what is it you have to say?"

" _Ahem._ I'm not entirely sure how to explain this or whether you'll believe me, but just know that every detail I'm telling you is the absolute truth of what I know. One of the additional monsters that Kulz spawned, a _Forsaken Villager_ , it was a girl I knew."

Tryston's eyes widened as his hands dropped from his chin to his desk. "You knew her? What exactly do you mean by that?"

"It's just like I told Trey and the others, her name was Marielle and she belonged to a guild called 'The Iron Dawn' that I did a couple quests with one day. When we were sneaking through the houses of that village I saw a photograph of her in one of the houses and I guess she must've been living there before it was taken over by Kulz."

"And you're absolutely positive it was her?"

"I couldn't exactly tell because of the decayed and missing flesh, but she was wearing the same clothing and armour, as well as having the same hair. Their guild leader and I kept up with each other, giving hints and tips about quests and farming areas around the place. He had told me they took up residence in a nearby NPC village, but shortly afterwards I lost communication with him and just assumed he perished in dungeon."

 _SLAM!_

Tryston struck down on the top of his desk, prompting an _Indestructible_ window to float above the table.

"That's got to be some sick joke," he said as he got out of his chair. "First we're tossed into a death game, but now we've got to worry about being turned into some psycho monster's dummy?"

"I've been thinking about it a lot and I can't quite figure out what it means," I said.

"Actually, I've come up with my own interpretation of how it works, although I have no facts to prove it," said Treyhax.

"What have you come up with?" asked Tryston.

"Well the way I see it is that our bodies, our virtual bodies that is, are nothing more than code written by programmers. The customization screen we all go through at the start of character creation is nothing more than us manipulating the coding of our virtual bodies to what we want it to be. Maybe with undead type monsters like the _Forsaken Villagers_ they just re-use the coding of deceased players to make for a more 'dramatic' monster. As sick and twisted as it may seem to create drama out of the deaths of players, all the drama in Aincrad is dramatic in that sick and twisted fashion. Maybe that's why the creators did this, just to satisfy their god complexes to the point of actually becoming a god, albeit in a virtual world."

"You know, that doesn't sound impossible," I said.

"Kath is right, it all meshes together well enough," added Swipe.

"Who else have you four told about this?" said Tryston, interrupting me.

"Nobody, sir," said Treyhax. "We knew this information was confidential until we briefed you on the situation."

"That was a wise decision, Captain. I'm ordering you four to take a vow of silence right here, right now."

"Hey wait a minute!" interrupted Zak. "You don't think these people need to know about that? That's some serious bullshit if you ask me."

"Are you stupid?" said Swipe. "Think about the widespread panic that would cause, people worrying about becoming some code zombie or even stumbling upon a loved one in a dungeon. It would be demoralizing."

"That's exactly right Swipe," added Tryston. "If the general population hears of this it'll be bad for the advancing to new floors, not to mention the fact we have to fight the first floor boss tomorrow. We can't risk anything when it comes to that."

Zak clenched his teeth and shot his head away with a look of disgust on his face.

"I know it may seem like the unethical thing to do, but Tryston is right," I said, trying to reassure Zak, but he continued to stare blankly away from us. "Don't worry, we'll keep this information to ourselves for the time being."

"And of course you know we will, sir," said Treyhax.

"Good, thank you all. I know it isn't something easy, but it's for the greater good. If that is all we had to discuss then I'll see you four tomorrow morning."

Treyhax and Swipe shot their hands up and gave a quick salute before turning around and leading us out of the headquarters.

"Thank you guys for cooperating so easily, I know it's not something you want to do," said Treyhax as we approached the exit gate of the property. "It's not something I want to do either, but in the long run I'm sure it'll prove to be the right thing to do."

"No need to thank us, we're on the same page," I said. "Right Zak?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "All I know is that you all better bring your A-game tomorrow so I don't have to do all the work."

"Oh please," interrupted Swipe. "Where would you be without us? Just another one of Kulz's victims."

"Speaking of tomorrow, do we know who the fifth member of our party is Trey?" I asked.

"Yeah, Tryston messaged me his details shortly before the meeting. His name is Garrett; he's a Scythe user so he'll be bringing more damage to our group."

"So that just leaves me to take the hits then?" I asked.

"Yes, but that is how our party is designed. You're going to be taking all the hits, but the four of us attacking the Lesser Troll should be able to take it out before you take anything close to fatal damage."

"Yeah, I see what you're saying. The battle plan in general seems well thought out."

"Give the credit to our leader and our strategists."

"We'll give them all the credit they deserve after we beat the damn thing," said Zak.

We all let out a slight chuckle, even Swipe managed to crack a grin.

"It's getting late, so we'll take our leave now to make sure we get a full night's sleep," I said. "See you guys tomorrow."

I turned around and strolled through the entrance gate, shortly followed by Zak.

"So are you excited for tomorrow?" asked Zak.

"I'm not so sure 'excited' is the word I'd use."

"C'mon man, we're going to be loaded after this. I bet I'll be the one who gets the last hit on the boss!" Zak flashed me wide smile and a thumbs up.

"Actions speak louder than words; make sure you can keep up with them."

The two of us laughed it off and proceeded to the same inn we stayed in the night before, had a quick bite to eat, and then went to bed. Alone with my thoughts, my mind was racing all over the place. _What is the truth to this world? Was that even Marielle? Are we going to be okay tomorrow?_ The questions never seemed to have an end. All I knew was we had to succeed tomorrow, not just for the sake of us fighting the boss, but for the sake of all of us fighting this cruel world.


End file.
